Salon.com > Girlshttp://www.salon.com
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 22:00:00 +0000enhourly1Lena Dunham won’t be your Gwyneth: “Girls” plus Rookie does not equal Goophttp://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/lena_dunham_wont_be_your_gwyneth_girls_plus_rookie_does_not_equal_goop/
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/lena_dunham_wont_be_your_gwyneth_girls_plus_rookie_does_not_equal_goop/#commentsTue, 14 Jul 2015 20:15:00 +0000davedaleyhttp://www.salon.com/?p=14017088Right now, I have 865,430 emails in my inbox, so you might think I would roll my eyes at the prospect of another item filling it up on a regular basis. Au contraire. Part of why my perennially bulging Gmail account is so filled is because I am the kind of person who likes email, to put it mildly. I’m aware that to the younger generation, that’s passé; on a recent family vacation, my 13-year-old cousin said she pretty much only uses email to send and receive school assignments, otherwise she’s all about Snapchat.

But I’m three times her age, and no matter how often I refresh my Facebook feed and visiting my favorite sites, I always seem to have some form of digital FOMO. So I am an avid newsletter subscriber, and what I’ve noticed is that there’s a conversational tone to many of the newsletters I receive that offers me something valuable and different from what I’d get visiting the authors’ social media pages. So I can find out what a writer I admire is cooking, or what podcasts to listen to next. Also, unlike with a website full of links, I don’t have to worry about losing the link to a newsletter when I click through to something and invariably get distracted and keep clicking. It’ll stay in my inbox as long as I want it to.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/lena_dunham_wont_be_your_gwyneth_girls_plus_rookie_does_not_equal_goop/feed/5Lena Dunham says her new “over sharing Internet friend” newsletter is not “the anti-Goop”http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/lena_dunham_says_her_new_over_sharing_internet_friend_newsletter_is_not_the_anti_goop/
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/lena_dunham_says_her_new_over_sharing_internet_friend_newsletter_is_not_the_anti_goop/#commentsTue, 14 Jul 2015 15:50:00 +0000Anna Silmanhttp://www.salon.com/?p=14016752Love her or hate her, Lena Dunham is known for baring it all — from her confessional personal essays to her proclivity for onscreen nudity — and she’s doubling down on her reputation as the queen of TMI with a new project called "Lenny:" "An email newsletter where there’s no such thing as too much information."

According to The Cut, Dunham is partnering with “Girls” showrunner Jenni Konner to launch the weekly email newsletter, which will be targeted at millennial women. As they explain in their mission statement, “Lenny is your over sharing Internet friend who will yell at you about your finances, help you choose a bathing suit, lamp, president... AND tell you what to do if you need an abortion."

Dunham tells The Cut she came up with the idea after meeting hundreds of young women on her book tour who were “inspiring me with their sense of community and their deep, deep desire for intelligent, politically liberal, thoughtful content that would speak to them.”

At the World Conference of Science Journalists held this week in Seoul, South Korea, Hunt admitted that he is in favor of gender-segregated labs because of all the trouble one can get into when one is forced to interact with women.

[embedtweet id="607813783075954688"]

"Let me tell you about my trouble with girls," he said. "Three things happen when they are in the lab... you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry."

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Hunt gave a bullshit half-apology saying he did mean the remarks, but was "really sorry." He added that it was "a very stupid thing to do in the presence of all those journalists."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/let_me_tell_you_about_my_trouble_with_girls_nobel_prize_laureate_tim_hunts_gobsmacking_misogyny/feed/45Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham’s A-list comics “raunchy” real talk: What’s normal for men still has to be “fearless” for womenhttp://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/amy_schumer_and_lena_dunhams_a_list_comics_raunchy_real_talk_whats_normal_for_men_still_has_to_be_fearless_for_women/
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/amy_schumer_and_lena_dunhams_a_list_comics_raunchy_real_talk_whats_normal_for_men_still_has_to_be_fearless_for_women/#commentsThu, 28 May 2015 15:20:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13976955Of course the Hollywood Reporter has to proclaim that its roundtable with six of Hollywood's "Emmy-contending comedy actresses" is going to be "raunchy." Of course the words "feminism" and "fearless" have to appear right in the introduction. That's how the conversation about women and comedy still, in 2015, has to go — with the rather astonished revelation that a woman who is successful and has strong opinions can somehow also be funny. And of course, should you choose to wallow into the comments on HR's chat with the formidable Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, Ellie Kemper, Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez and Tracee Ellis Ross, you'll find plenty of assessments of the women as "bar-hog-hookers" and "doughy-bodied... no talent, stupid hags" who are part of the evil feminist cabal of "extreme leftist, man hating, baby killing wh&res," as well as the observation that "I have never ever found any female comedian funny. They always come off as desperate and pathetic." And of course the conversation itself is goddamn righteous.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/amy_schumer_and_lena_dunhams_a_list_comics_raunchy_real_talk_whats_normal_for_men_still_has_to_be_fearless_for_women/feed/13Lena Dunham responds to anti-Semitism controversy: Jew jokes were an “essential” part of family lifehttp://www.salon.com/2015/04/21/lena_dunham_responds_to_anti_semitism_controversy_jew_jokes_were_an_essential_part_of_family_life/
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/21/lena_dunham_responds_to_anti_semitism_controversy_jew_jokes_were_an_essential_part_of_family_life/#commentsTue, 21 Apr 2015 17:50:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13943466Lena Dunham has done what she can to ensure that her identification as a feminist is well-documented. Perhaps less well-documented, though, is that Dunham also identifies as Jewish -- a fact that recently got the "Girls" star into trouble when she penned a satirical New Yorker essay about dating Jewish men, which stirred up allegations of anti-Semitism.

In a new interview with Variety, Dunham responds to the controversy by sharing a personal history infused with Jewish humor, as well as the social views that have come to define her public persona and her work:

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/04/21/lena_dunham_responds_to_anti_semitism_controversy_jew_jokes_were_an_essential_part_of_family_life/feed/20“Girls” star Jemima Kirke shares her heart-rending abortion story: “I had to empty my checking account”http://www.salon.com/2015/04/14/i_had_to_empty_my_checking_account_girls_star_jemima_kirke_shares_her_heart_rending_abortion_story/
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/14/i_had_to_empty_my_checking_account_girls_star_jemima_kirke_shares_her_heart_rending_abortion_story/#commentsTue, 14 Apr 2015 14:19:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13936577It was early in the series that HBO's "Girls" included abortion as a storyline, when Jemima Kirke's character, Jessa, believed she was pregnant and decided to terminate. The character never ends up going in for the "procedure" because she gets her period before she heads to the clinic, but it didn't exactly play out that way in real life for Kirke. As the actress has said publicly before, she had an abortion when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant as a college student -- and there's a reason she's always been so open about it.

In a new video for the Center for Reproductive Rights, Kirke shares the details of her abortion experience to raise awareness about both the commonality of the procedure and the obstacles many women face to accessing the care they need. The "Girls" star and mother of three says that when she became pregnant in 2007, her life "was not conducive to raising a happy, healthy child." Nor was it particularly conducive to spending hundreds of dollars for an abortion, which Kirke had to pay for herself.

As Sandhya Somashekhar first reported Monday in the Washington Post, the unique Maryland clinic opens this week with a promise of offering guests "warm teas, comfortable robes and a matter-of-fact attitude" -- along with pharmaceutical abortions for women up to ten weeks pregnant. Visitors will receive "counseling and some basic tests" in an environment of "natural wood floors and plush upholstery," then take an initial pill on the premises before being sent home with a second dose to take the next day to complete the process. Purdy believes women will be able to be in and out of the office in under an hour, and services are provided in English and Spanish. And, because the facility won't have the overhead of doing surgical procedures, he says Carafem will be able to charge less than typical providers – around $400.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/yes_women_deserve_spa_like_abortion_providers/feed/313 of “Girls’” most cringe-worthy sex sceneshttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/29/13_of_girls_most_cringe_worthy_sex_scenes/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/29/13_of_girls_most_cringe_worthy_sex_scenes/#commentsSun, 29 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13922483I'll be the first to applaud Lena Dunham and the rest of the "Girls" cast for pushing the envelope (really, really hard) when it comes to portraying realistic sex on television. The HBO series has gained notoriety for its depictions of sex that is messy, not particularly pleasurable for the characters and, quite often, even less pleasurable to watch. Hannah Horvath and co. have had the sort of sex that breaks barriers when we see it on the small screen, but that doesn't mean we've watched it all without cringing a bit along the way.

As with most of the situations in which the girls of "Girls" find themselves, their most difficult-to-watch sex scenes usually don't give viewers that feeling of secondhand embarrassment because of the sex itself -- rather, it's because of the way the characters respond to the experience. Does that mean "Girls'" most uncomfortable sexual moments are all funnier out of context? Relive 13 of them below and decide for yourself.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/29/13_of_girls_most_cringe_worthy_sex_scenes/feed/6Black girls’ sexual burden: Why Mo’ne Davis was really called a “slut”http://www.salon.com/2015/03/25/black_girls_sexual_burden_why_mone_davis_was_really_called_a_slut/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/25/black_girls_sexual_burden_why_mone_davis_was_really_called_a_slut/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 20:35:00 +0000bzeffhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13919054Mo’ne Davis is a Black girl wunderkind. At age 13, she has pitched a shutout at the Little League World Series, becoming the first girl ever to do so, and she has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Disney is now planning to do a movie about her called, “Throw Like Mo.”

I’m not ashamed to admit that I still watch the Disney Channel, and I will certainly be tuning in. But everyone isn’t as excited as I am to see a Black girl on the come up. Last week, Joey Casselberry, a sophomore baseball player from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, called Mo’ne a “slut” in response to the news about the movie. He was subsequently expelled from the team.

In response, Davis has forgiven him and she and her coach have asked that he be reinstated. About Casselberry, Davis released a statement, which said:

Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. I know he didn't mean it in that type of way, and I know a lot of people get tired of like seeing me on TV but just think about what you're doing before you actually do it. I know right now he's really hurt and I know how hard he worked just to get where he is right now.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/25/black_girls_sexual_burden_why_mone_davis_was_really_called_a_slut/feed/428“Girls”: Leaning in and moving on, finallyhttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/23/girls_leaning_in_and_moving_on_finally/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/23/girls_leaning_in_and_moving_on_finally/#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 14:14:00 +0000Erin Keanehttp://www.salon.com/?p=13917668It’s onward and upward for the “Girls” in last night’s season finale. Shoshanna breaks up with a successful, handsome Harvard graduate to take a job in Japan (“Japanese is super easy to get the hang of,” her new boss promises her; the person currently holding the position is bipolar, and Shoshanna is assured, “We are going to fire her, pretty much the minute she’s on a manic upswing”). Marnie manages to shine as a solo performer when Desi stands her up for an important gig. Hannah, for her part, moves on as well — past a trite reconciliation with Adam after he and Mimi-Rose are over and into a relationship with Fran, her fellow teacher who has shown himself in earlier episodes to be both attracted to and repelled by her remorseless self-involvement. Caroline, who painfully delivers a baby in a slightly more tense version of a now-tired plot mechanism wherein a woman who insists on a natural birth winds up happy to deliver her baby in a hospital with drugs and doctors, offers a moment of growth for all involved in the dramatic birth — Jessa, Adam, and Hannah, who helpfully compares the birth to what she’s like “after I eat a big Mexican dinner.” (Thanks, Hannah.)

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/23/girls_leaning_in_and_moving_on_finally/feed/3I’m sorry, but women on TV apologize too muchhttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/im_sorry_but_women_on_tv_apologize_too_much/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/im_sorry_but_women_on_tv_apologize_too_much/#commentsFri, 20 Mar 2015 23:00:00 +0000Erin Keanehttp://www.salon.com/?p=13915088A few days ago on the subway, I tripped over the foot of a dude casually draped across his seat. And those two horrible words sailed out of my mouth faster than my palms hit the floor. I’m sorry. Rather than directing my anger at the manspreading offender, I claimed the fault and hated myself for it.

The apology is the punctuation to the female sentence. Though we’re experts at chastising each other for the behavior, we can’t seem to stop. Even science says we do it too much. Every day I watch as women apologize to me for doing their jobs. For sweeping under my table at the coffee shop, or not returning a phone call during an important meeting. It’s an epidemic where we’re all patient zero.

If life were a little more scripted, I might choose to edit out all those unnecessary sorrys. Which made me start to wonder. Are my favorite fictional ladies suffering from the same predicament? Forever a fangirl, I take my cues from powerful women on my TV screen. But are they infecting the air without us ever realizing it? I decided to take a look and watch a whole bunch of television. For science, of course.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/im_sorry_but_women_on_tv_apologize_too_much/feed/35If “Louie” is a comedy, so is “Orange Is the New Black”: The Emmys still can’t figure out funnyhttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/if_louie_is_a_comedy_so_is_orange_is_the_new_black_the_emmys_still_cant_figure_out_funny/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/if_louie_is_a_comedy_so_is_orange_is_the_new_black_the_emmys_still_cant_figure_out_funny/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 15:26:00 +0000Anna Silmanhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13913476The Emmys have always been a bit of a mess. We are increasingly seeing a proliferation of shows that resist neat genre categorization (into outmoded categories like "comedy" or "drama," "series or miniseries"), and the fact that producers are allowed to basically choose what category a show competes in ends up leading to a whole bunch of confusion, with actors and shows playing musical chairs from year to year. Why was "True Detective" considered a drama last year and "Fargo" a miniseries? Why was "Orange is the New Black"'s Kate Mulgrew a supporting actress nominee while Uzo Aduba was a guest actress? Why was "Shameless" a drama for three seasons and then a comedy last year? Like we said -- a mess.

Well, in order to simplify things a bit, the Academy announced a number of changes back in February designed to clarify the rules. First off, to make way for the increased number of series on TV, they announced that seven shows instead of six will now be entered in the best comedy and best drama categories. They also split the variety category into talk shows and sketch shows -- meaning shows like "SNL" and "Portlandia" will no longer face off against the likes of Colbert and Letterman -- while the guest actor race now includes only actors that appear in less than 50% of the show (sorry, Uzo Aduba).

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/18/if_louie_is_a_comedy_so_is_orange_is_the_new_black_the_emmys_still_cant_figure_out_funny/feed/1“Girls” comes out, and maybe moves on: Why her dad’s revelation might finally make Hannah grow the hell uphttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/09/girls_comes_out_and_maybe_moves_on_why_her_dads_revelation_might_finally_make_hannah_grow_the_hell_up/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/09/girls_comes_out_and_maybe_moves_on_why_her_dads_revelation_might_finally_make_hannah_grow_the_hell_up/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 16:05:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13905379If you watch "Girls" or have read much online entertainment news this morning, then you already know about the big twist that dominated last night's episode (spoilers ahead, obviously): Hannah's dad, Tad, is gay. Tad (played by Peter Scolari) comes out to his wife, Loreen (Becky Ann Baker), within the first moments of the episode, immediately after a visit to their therapist and in an exchange that feels distinctly like something from a one-act play. Their back-and-forth captures something about the revelation that isn't just true for the characters, but for the audience as well: It's sort of out of nowhere, but also not entirely unexpected.

As several reviewers have already pointed out, "Girls" alluded to the possibility that Tad might be gay as early as the first season, when Hannah's ex-boyfriend Elijah leaves a testy reunion drink with, "Nice to see you, your dad is gay." That feeling of sort-of-knowingness carries over to Tad's phrasing when he actually comes out to Loreen, which manages to be both ambivalent and crystal clear: he begins by telling his wife, who's just received tenure and starts the conversation in good spirits, that he's "been thinking lately" he might be gay, only to clarify later, "I don't think -- I am."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/09/girls_comes_out_and_maybe_moves_on_why_her_dads_revelation_might_finally_make_hannah_grow_the_hell_up/feed/3Zachary Quinto and Gillian Jacobs steal the show: Ranking this season’s “Girls” guest starshttp://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/zachary_quinto_and_gillian_jacobs_steal_the_show_ranking_this_seasons_girls_guest_stars/
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/zachary_quinto_and_gillian_jacobs_steal_the_show_ranking_this_seasons_girls_guest_stars/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 17:35:00 +0000Anna Silmanhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13899228"Girls" has stepped up its guest star game this season, with a plethora of familiar faces and FODs (friends of Dunham) stopping in for brief stints in the world of Jessa, Shosh, Hannah and Marnie. Here's a look at the best and worst guest spots in season four (for our purposes, we'll only be looking at bold-face names who haven't been featured prominently on the show before).

9. Natasha Lyonne. I love Nicky Nichols Natasha Lyonne as much as the next "Orange Is the New Black" fan, but her few seconds as Beadie's daughter were disappointingly brief and sort of pointless -- much like this whole subplot.

8. Ana GasteyerThe “SNL” alum was a solid choice for Shosh’s mom: The pair have the same sort of high-strung energy and even somewhat look alike. We just wish that she, like Lyonne, had a little more to do.

7. Marc Maron Not too much to say here, but it's fun to see the comic and "WTF" podcaster (and noted FOD!) bring his quintessential prickliness to his spot as Ray's city council antagonist.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/03/02/zachary_quinto_and_gillian_jacobs_steal_the_show_ranking_this_seasons_girls_guest_stars/feed/4HBO’s political call to arms: “Citizenfour” has more in common with “Girls” than you’d thinkhttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/24/hbos_political_call_to_arms_citizenfour_has_more_in_common_with_girls_than_youd_think/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/24/hbos_political_call_to_arms_citizenfour_has_more_in_common_with_girls_than_youd_think/#commentsTue, 24 Feb 2015 23:59:00 +0000Sonia Saraiyahttp://www.salon.com/?p=13894737This has been a big week for the documentary “Citizenfour,” Laura Poitras’ film about how Edward Snowden got in touch with her and blew open a global surveillance conspiracy of staggering proportions, conducted by the U.S. government. On Sunday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded the film an Oscar for best documentary feature; on Monday, the film made its television debut on HBO, its widest release yet.

In some ways, “Citizenfour” is oddly perfunctory. Poitras started filming from the very first time she met Snowden, in a hotel in Hong Kong. The scope of the story is becoming clear to her in real-time; even if you have the foresight to bring a camera to a historical event, it’s hard to know exactly what history is going say about the event. She is largely silent, behind the camera, listening to Greenwald and Snowden hash out a plan for what happens next, watching Snowden do simple things like shave, watch TV and stare out the window, waiting to see if some kind of threat is approaching. She is, sort of, surveilling him—especially in the eight days in June that he is in Hong Kong, publicizing the information that is going to completely change his life and the global news conversation. It is a lot of tense waiting, of not knowing what happens next, of feeling both very plugged into the world and very removed from it, too.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/24/hbos_political_call_to_arms_citizenfour_has_more_in_common_with_girls_than_youd_think/feed/13“He’s an honest man. He’s a truthful man”: Allison Williams breaks her silencehttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/hes_an_honest_man_hes_a_truthful_man_allison_williams_defends_her_father/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/hes_an_honest_man_hes_a_truthful_man_allison_williams_defends_her_father/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 13:56:00 +0000Colin_Gorensteinhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13890029Brian Williams may have "jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News," according to NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke, but he has not jeopardized the trust of his daughter.

"Girls" star Allison Williams sat down with Seth Meyers at the 92nd Street Y Wednesday night, making her the first of the Williams family to address the six-month suspension of her father publicly.

She told Meyers that, despite it all, she still knows the kind of man he is (someone who calls from Iraq on assignment to see if she found a date to the ninth grade dance).

"My dad has always been there for us 100 percent of the time, even sometimes before we knew we needed him," Williams said.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/hes_an_honest_man_hes_a_truthful_man_allison_williams_defends_her_father/feed/16The price I pay to writehttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/08/the_price_i_pay_to_write_partner/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/08/the_price_i_pay_to_write_partner/#commentsSun, 08 Feb 2015 01:00:00 +0000Ian Blairhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13880520 The best thing that ever happened to my writing life was breaking my ankle. Painful, yes, but it bought me seven weeks of forced bed rest—kind of like a paid writer’s retreat, except for the part where I had to figure out how to get myself to the bathroom.

I’ve written in the margins of life since I was a college student selling cardigans at Lord & Taylor; a graduate student tutoring kindergarteners on the alphabet and prepping high-school seniors for their SATs; an adjunct with a five-class courseload across two campuses; and a late-twentysomething/early-thirtysomething “in marketing and editorial.” Lunch breaks bled into long nights, and long nights bled into weekends. All the while I was chafed raw: I had to eke out my passion in the hours between helping other people achieve their dreams—or at least get what they wanted.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/08/the_price_i_pay_to_write_partner/feed/13“Ass is the new p*ssy”: Why anilingus is on the risehttp://www.salon.com/2015/02/02/ass_is_the_new_pssy_why_anilingus_is_on_the_rise_partner/
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/02/ass_is_the_new_pssy_why_anilingus_is_on_the_rise_partner/#commentsMon, 02 Feb 2015 23:57:00 +0000Jacob Sugarmanhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13876961With anilingus currently in so many editorial spreads and on the tip of so many tongues, it bears noting that Mozart wrote a song about eating ass. Titled “Leck mich im Arsch,” which literally translates to “Lick me in the ass,” it’s the sort of song that might be referred to as a “bawdy ode” or a “ribald verse,” and consists almost solely of the repeated request that we all get real familiar with the business end of Mozart’s anus. The music is by lesser-known Czech composer Wenzel Trnka von Krzowitz, but the lyrics are pure Mozart: “Lick my ass nicely / lick it nice and clean,” the canon jauntily proposes. “Come on, just try it / And lick, lick, lick!” Nearly 300 years before Desi buried three-quarters of his face in Marnie’s ass on this season’s premiere of "Girls," Mozart was already foreshadowing our cultural embrace of anilingus, aka rimming, ass munching, salad tossing, and to bring things fully up-to-date, “eating cake.”

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/02/02/ass_is_the_new_pssy_why_anilingus_is_on_the_rise_partner/feed/141“Girls” has a friendship problemhttp://www.salon.com/2015/01/26/girls_has_a_friendship_problem/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/26/girls_has_a_friendship_problem/#commentsMon, 26 Jan 2015 21:21:00 +0000Anna Silmanhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13871653Is it just me, or is it becoming increasingly difficult to remember a time when the girls of “Girls” were actually friends with each other? While there was limited pre-existing basis for their foursome to begin with (Jessa and Marnie never liked each other, Shoshanna was only part of the group because she was Jessa’s cousin, etc.) we were once led to believe that these characters shared a genuine fondness for one another. The very first episode, with Hannah and Marnie hanging out naked in the bath together, promised a realistic, non-sugarcoated depiction of female codependency.

But a viewer plunging uninitiated into the current season would never know that these four girls were connected in any way, other than appearing on the same credit reel. Jessa, who once seemed to love Hannah (at least in her own sociopathic way) can't even hold up her end of a Skype conversation. Marnie and Hannah don't appear to talk at all (partly because of Iowa, but it shows how tenuous that relationship was to begin with that the show can move along fine without it). And while I'm not sure if Shoshanna has any friends on her home planet, her attempts to pass as an earthling are becoming increasingly transparent.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/01/26/girls_has_a_friendship_problem/feed/15Lena Dunham on sexism in Hollywood: No one thought Woody Allen was “a real perv”http://www.salon.com/2015/01/26/lena_dunham_on_sexism_in_hollywood_no_one_thought_woody_allen_was_a_real_perv/
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/26/lena_dunham_on_sexism_in_hollywood_no_one_thought_woody_allen_was_a_real_perv/#commentsMon, 26 Jan 2015 17:58:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13871414In the aptly named Power of Story: Serious Ladies panel at this year's Sundance Festival, moderator Emily Nussbaum hosted some political real talk between Lena Dunham, Mindy Kaling, Kristen Wiig and Jenji Kohan that turned to issues of reproductive justice, campus sexual assault and, as Dunham put it, "perv" Woody Allen. When asked to share what they consider their most dearly held political beliefs, Dunham raised the topics of reproductive healthcare and rape on college campuses before moving on to Allen:

The idea that women can't be complete and total citizens until they have complete and total control over the destiny of their bodies, and the idea that we're still fighting this fight 42 years after Roe vs. Wade... it's not just religious issue, it's not just a political issue, it's also a lot about class, and it's a lot about race, and it feeds into all these other forms of inequality and injustice that exist in our country.

In response to a separate question, Dunham highlighted the double standard she faces as a female writer and actress, who is often confused for being her character when male artists are reprieved: